Milwaukee has put the National League Championship Series in a tight grip, twice answering the Dodgers’ best shots and carrying a 2-0 edge west after Monday’s 7-4 comeback win at American Family Field.
Brewers keep finding the response
The matchup arrived with the feel of an October heavyweight bout: two clubs that cleared 100 wins, one National League pennant waiting at the end. Through two games, Milwaukee has been the club delivering the final answer.
The Brewers erased three separate deficits in Game 2, a night that swung back and forth before their bullpen took over with a late lead. Los Angeles went ahead three times during the first six innings, and Milwaukee matched each move before pulling away.
- The Dodgers held leads on three occasions in Game 2.
- The Brewers came back each time on their way to a 7-4 victory.
- Milwaukee heads to Los Angeles holding a two-games-to-none series advantage.
- Game 3 is scheduled for Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT and 5 p.m. PT, airing on FS1, FOX Deportes and FOX One.
Bauers wears down Yamamoto
The key turn came in the third inning, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto trying to preserve a Dodgers lead. Jake Bauers refused to give away the at-bat, stretching the confrontation to 12 pitches with two outs.
More than seven minutes after stepping in, Bauers watched a full-count curveball bounce below the zone and took first base. Christian Yelich followed with a single that moved Milwaukee in front, and Yamamoto’s workday ended there.
The Dodgers right-hander recorded only eight outs, making it the briefest postseason appearance of his career. Los Angeles had entrusted the opening two games to its frontline starters, Tarik Skubal in Game 1 and Yamamoto in Game 2, but left Milwaukee without a win from either outing.
Contreras delivers the heavy swings
Los Angeles regained the lead in the fifth, but the Brewers quickly pushed back again. William Contreras tied the game with a towering 436-foot homer to straightaway center off reliever Kris Bubic.
Contreras was not finished. In the following inning, he lined a single to left field that put Milwaukee ahead for good. Once the Brewers gave their late-inning relief unit a lead to carry, the Dodgers could not crack it.
History favors Milwaukee, but the series moves west
A 2-0 advantage has traditionally been a strong October position. In best-of-seven postseason series, clubs that have won the first two games have finished the job 79 times in 95 chances, an 83 percent rate.
There have been 16 comebacks from that hole, including two in the last three seasons: Toronto against Seattle in the 2025 ALCS and Arizona against Philadelphia in the 2023 NLCS.
The Dodgers remain the two-time defending champions, and the setting now changes to Los Angeles. But Milwaukee has spent the opening two games showing the same trait every time the game tilts away from it: a calm counterpunch, followed by a bullpen built to make the lead stand.
